County charity specialising in benefit and debt advice sees thousands more people seek help
Cost of living pressures and energy costs have led to a benefits gap says its chief executive
By Sarah Ward
A Northampton based charity which helps people with legal advice about benefits, debt and housing has seen thousands more people coming to its offices for help this year.
Community Law Service says the amount of people getting in touch for help has risen by 16 per cent, with around 18,000 people needing assistance.
The charity, which has offices in Northampton, Wellingborough and Rushden, has now had to put a notice on its website to warn people of longer than normal wait times - people may have to wait ten days for an initial assessment and then as long as six weeks for an in person appointment.
Chief executive Sarah Hayle says the cost of living and energy prices have had a huge impact on the services and they regularly see people in extreme fuel poverty who live without gas or electricity because they cannot afford it.
Their work
The charity specialises in helping people with legal advice about welfare benefits, debt, housing, energy costs and immigration.
They say currently the highest demand is for benefit advice - 45 per cent of clients want help with benefits advice. Next it is debt and then housing.
In the last six months there has been a significant increase in private renters accessing the service in need of assistance. The average age of clients coming to see them is aged 38.
It says in the last year 35 per cent of clients had dependent children, 55 per cent were single, 28 per cent were married, 11 per cent were divorced or separated and 6 per cent were widowed.
The charity - which employs around 40 members of staff, helps people from start to end of their case, dealing with government agencies or social housing providers, challenging benefit decisions, helping people negotiate with creditors and dealing with insolvency.
It also helps those in rent or mortgage arrears and regularly represents people in court who are facing eviction.
Current times
Sarah has worked at the charity for thirty years, becoming chief executive last year after founder Julie Silver retired.
She says since the days of a John Major government things have changed greatly. Whereas decisions used to largely be made locally and they would generally know the person within the Department for Work and Pensions that they were speaking to, now things are much more remote.
Sarah says:
“The enquiries we get are far more complex than they used to be. Whereas before we used to have a client walk through the door with perhaps one matter that needed resolving. Now I would say people have three factors that need dealing with. And decision making is slower and much more convoluted - our cases are open a lot longer, they are a lot more complex, it just takes a lot more work to resolve things.”
Sarah also says that 80 percent of clients have a long term health problem or a disability.
“The vast majority of people that we see are vulnerable from that point of view. I think people are confused by a complicated situation and have multiple problems, be that financial health or whatever. I think people find it really difficult to navigate a complicated situation.
She continued:
“Since 2010 - since austerity came in we have had a lot of welfare reforms - we have seen the introduction of universal credit and restrictions on the amount that people can get to help with their rent. There have been a lot of subtle changes to the benefits system which cumulatively have quite a big impact on people. I would say definitely since all the welfare reform stuff came in around 2012, that’s really had a big impact on our client group.”
Sarah says there is often a gap in the benefits between the essentials of what people need to pay for and what the government provides.
“The benefit rates are not sufficient. We had a benefit freeze for many years so although we are seeing an increase in benefit rates this April, in real terms it has not caught up. That is an issue. I think the massive cost of fuel and rent is a major problem for people.
“I think people would be in pretty dire straits if it wasn’t for food banks at the moment.”
The positives
The charity helps people overcome difficult circumstances everyday. It is making a positive difference which has kept Sarah and her colleagues in the job for so long.
She said:
“People do come to us in difficult circumstances but often we are able to help them - from a food bank referral to getting £30k worth of debt written off. It could be anything in between those things.
“We would always encourage people to speak up when they need support. It is important that people seek a bit of help if they need it.
“We’re a completely non judgemental organisation. So we’re here to serve our local community.”
Sarah also says the anti poverty strategy adopted by West Northamptonshire Council last year is making a difference.
Funding
However despite their work being in great demand the funding is always short term. Typically the grant funding is for a 12 month period, however they currently have some two year funding and have recently received
Funders include legal aid, the two unitary councils and they also are funded by British Gas to help people in fuel poverty.
While the short term nature of funding puts a pressure on the charity to constantly find new ways to pay for its expert caseworkers it also puts a pressure on the
Sarah says:
“We are really fortunate to have a lot of staff who have been with us in excess of 20 years because it just takes a lot of confidence from the staff to hold in a job when you know it is only funded for 12 months.”
How to access
Sarah says the earlier people get in touch the better. Details of how to contact the Community Law Service and opening times are here.
Our reporting is paid for by our supporters. If you join them it will help independent journalism in Northamptonshire to continue
Community Law helped me loads back when they were called Welfare Rights. I used them when I was on benefits and I use them now as a Support Worker to help my Service Users. The system just keeps getting more complex over the years and can create stress for people especially with mental health needs. Such an invaluable service and have always struggled for funding. Sarah and her team are heroes.
Shame that just at a time when people most need a well run Housing Benefits service , the previously good service run under the now defunct Northampton Borough Council as turned into a complete shambles since being taken under new managment by West Northants. Most of the experienced staff have voted with their feet and left and there is a mountainous backlog and it is looking like it will only get worse